Animonda Integra Protect Intestinal review

Ingredients, as declared: Maize, poultry protein (dried), rice, poultry protein hydrolysed, poultry liver, whole egg (dried), brewer's yeast, poultry fat, beef tallow, salmon oil, beet pulp, linseed, oat fibre, fructo-oligosaccharides, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, Yucca schidigera. Highly digestible source materials: poultry protein (dried), poultry protein hydrolysed, rice.

Maize opens the label, dried poultry protein comes second and rice third. Animonda then prints its own shortlist of what it counts as the highly digestible material inside, naming dried poultry protein, hydrolysed poultry protein and rice. Hydrolysis breaks protein into smaller fragments before it ever reaches the bowl, and that is the usual reason a maker reaches for it in a gut recipe.

The meat is described by bird group rather than by species, so chicken, turkey, duck or goose could all sit behind the word poultry. Poultry liver, dried whole egg, beef tallow and salmon oil each bring something from a different animal as well, so this is not a recipe you could run as a strict exclusion trial. All of it is on the list in plain sight, which is what matters if you are keeping a record of what your dog has met.

Beet pulp, linseed and oat fibre carry the fibre, and fructo-oligosaccharides are in as a prebiotic, a fibre that feeds gut bacteria rather than the dog. Sodium chloride and potassium chloride are itemised separately from the rest of the minerals, with calcium carbonate and Yucca schidigera closing the list, yucca being an inclusion makers use to work on stool odour. Brewer's yeast sits in the middle of the list as a source of B vitamins and a little extra protein.

The panel declares 26.5% protein and 13.5% fat as fed, converting to 28.8% and 14.7% of dry matter against declared moisture of 8.0%. Crude fibre reads 2.5% and crude ash 6.0%, the carbohydrate estimate lands at 43.5% as fed and 47.3% of dry matter, and energy is 380 kcal per 100g. Starch doing that much of the work is how a digestible recipe of this kind is put together. Weigh it against your dog's case with the vet who put you on it.

Vitamin A is declared at 15000 IU and vitamin D3 at 1500 IU, with copper sulphate pentahydrate, zinc oxide at 24 mg, manganese oxide and calcium iodate each carrying a printed dose beside it. Animonda's own table runs from 40 to 85 grams a day for a 2 to 5kg dog and 95 to 190 grams across 6 to 15kg. Bigger dogs get 200 to 280 grams across 16 to 25kg, and 290 to 540 grams between 26 and 60kg. On a therapeutic diet the amount is normally set in the consulting room.

Animonda lists it in a single 4kg bag.